Those small businesses that did not have a lien, judgment, collection filing, bankruptcy or severe payment delinquencies prior to the start of the economic downturn in 2007 are doing better than other firms.

That's according to an August Experian market insight survey tracking more than 300,000 small businesses in the United States from April 2007 to April 2009. Nearly 5% of so-called "clean" businesses were in collections compared to 10.68% of all businesses.

Those with delinquencies of more than 90 days old accounted for 5.78% of respondents, significantly lower than 11.22% of all businesses. Likewise, 2.07% of clean businesses experienced tax liens compared to 7.10% for other firms. The same is true for judgments at 0.98% and 4.94%, respectively.

Experian said businesses with the likelihood of having a new, severe payment delinquency within two quarters of a derogatory event grew during the second half of 2008 as economic conditions worsened.

Credit unions and other financial institutions that use risk assessment tools to identify good and bad accounts are in a better position to identify sound businesses and predict future delinquent payment behavior, Experian said.